Broadcasting management information using fountain codes

摘要

Technologies for broadcasting management information include a management server and a number of client devices. The management server encodes management data such as a certificate revocation list into a number of message fragments using a fountain code encoding algorithm and broadcasts the message fragments continually over a network. Each client device analyzes the network during a boot process to receive the broadcast message fragments. Each client device decodes the message fragments using a fountain code decoding algorithm and determines whether the message is complete. If the message is complete, the client device parses the message to retrieve the management data and may install the management data on the client device. If the message is incomplete, the client device may store the message fragments in nonvolatile storage for processing during future boot events. The client device may perform those operations in a pre-boot firmware environment. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

主权项

1. A client device for receiving broadcast management information, the client device comprising:
a network module to analyze a network interface of the client device during a boot process of the client device to receive message fragments broadcast by a management server; a fountain decoding module to (i) store the message fragments in a firmware cache of the client device, (ii) decode the message fragments stored in the firmware cache to generate at least a part of a message using a fountain code decoding algorithm, and (iii) determine whether the message is complete in response to decoding of the message fragments stored in the firmware cache and generation of the at least a part of the message; and an update management module to (i) parse the message to identify management data included in the message by the management server in response to a determination that the message is complete, and (ii) apply the management data to the client device; wherein the network module is to analyze the network interface and the fountain code decoding module is to decode the message fragments and determine whether the message is complete a second time in response to a reboot of the client device.